1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data processing systems, methods and computer program products for delivering and formatting information.
2. Description of Related Art
The Internet includes a vast number of computers and computer networks that are interconnected through communication links. The interconnected computers exchange information using various services, such as a computer network, electronic mail, Gopher, and the World Wide Web (WWW). The Internet allows a server computer to send digital documents containing information to a user system. That user system can then display, via a browser, the digital documents on a display screen included in, or attached to, the user system. To view a specific digital document, a user system and the browser specify the Universal Resource Indicator (URI) for that document in a request, which can include a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request; that request is then forwarded to the server computer that supports provisioning of that digital document. When that server computer receives the request, it sends that document to the user system. Subsequently, when the user system receives the requested digital document, it typically displays the document in cooperation with the browser.
Conventionally, digital documents are typically defined using code, which provides a standard set of instructions or tags that define how the digital document is to be displayed. This code is typically a source code or object code which can include, but is not limited to, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), EXTensible Markup Language (EXTML), Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML), Java and JavaScript. Thus, when, as above, a user requests that the browser initiate display of a digital document, the browser sends a request to the server computer to transfer to the user system the code that defines the digital document. When the requested code for the digital document is received by the user system, the browser then displays the document in a layout defined by the code. That code contains various tags or instructions that control the layout (i.e., the arrangement of text, graphics, icons, e.g., providing activation of specific tools such as print or electronic mail, images and graphical representations of URI's of other documents available on that server computer or other server computers (e.g., navigational links) and advertisements (e.g., banners).